SP’s achievement limited to collecting ‘boxes filled with notes’, says PM Modi in Kanpur

Modi said that the Samajwadi Party has been taking credit for all the recent inauguration of projects in the poll-bound state but now they are sitting with their mouths shut after trader Piyush Jain was arrested with seizures worth crores.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the achievement of the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led government of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh was limited to collecting “boxes filled with notes".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses during the flagging off ceremony of the completed section of Kanpur Metro Rail project, in Kanpur on Tuesday, December 28, 2021. (ANI Photo)

Addressing a packed gathering in Kanpur, PM Modi said the SP has been taking credit for all the recent inauguration of projects in the poll-bound state. “I was thinking whether they (SP) will take credit for this (boxes filled with cash) as well,” he added.

Citing the recent arrest of perfume trader Piyush Jain with crores in possession, the Prime Minister said the “perfume of corruption” that the former ruling camp had spread before 2017 was there for all to see.

“But now, they are sitting with their mouths shut. They are not coming forward to take credit for the mountain of currency notes seen by the entire country,” PM Modi told the gathering amid loud cheers. "The people of Uttar Pradesh are seeing and understanding everything and hence, they are with those who are working to take the state forward," he added.

The ruling BJP has been claiming that Jain had links with the Samajwadi Party, while Yadav has said the saffron camp got "its own businessman" raided "by mistake" as a lot of party leaders were in touch with him.

Jain was arrested following multiple raids by the Income Tax department and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs having seized around ₹257 crore in cash, 25 kg of gold and 250 kg of silver from the perfume trader's house in Kanpur as well as from his house and factory in Kannauj. He was sent to 14-day judicial custody on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Modi inaugurated the completed section of the ₹11,000 crore Kanpur Metro Rail project and the 365-km Bina-Panki multi-product pipeline project.